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Reply to "Haverford"

LuckyCat posted:
PABaseball posted:

Truthfully, it's a fine school. But to enjoy the experience at a small school like that you have to really want to go there. Not "I would go there",  it has to be "I want to go there". It's an average sized high school in terms of size. There aren't going to be 300 person parties or Tuesday night parties. You will get a very specific type of student there. That may be what you guys are looking for but its not for everybody, make sure he does his homework.

Truthfully, outside a handful of small LA colleges I could never really justify the tuition for one. Schools like Williams, Tufts, Amherst make sense. The others - I could get the same degree from Penn State and most likely be in a much better position when I graduate. I hear a lot of talk about alumni connections and students who want to study business, but the vast majority of these schools are not target schools for anybody in finance/banking and only pump out 300-500 alumni a year. A school like PSU is going to churn out 10k alumni each year and are going to have bigger, better facilities more opportunities, lower tuition, etc. Then again, there are going to be more of the elite at smaller LA colleges. Just know the ballpark you're playing in and what you want out of it. If he wants a small school with a more dedicated student body and a broader social and academic experience that might be the way to go. If he's a social butterfly looking to stick to a set curriculum and have a ton of activities and opportunities on campus I would look elsewhere.

I appreciate your perspective PABaseball, but, based on my own experience, I don't share this view.

I have an older son who is a rising junior at a small liberal arts college here in the south.  It has a good academic reputation and a strong and loyal alumni network, but it is not "Ivy adjacent," as they say, and doesn't rank quite as high as Haverford on most college rankings.  He could have gone to one of the big public universities in our part of the country, but he chose this small school instead and has never looked back.  I see how he has thrived there, and the quality of the education and attention he is receiving from committed professors in classes often with less than 20 students (he has brought home papers he has written and I've seen the kinds of thoughtful feedback he gets from them) and how those professors and other administrators at his college have supported him and encouraged him to reach for things and stretch himself, such that he has attained things (like really interesting and challenging internships and leadership positions) that he might not have pursued if he was an anonymous face in a sea of 20,000, 30,000, or more students.

Of course, small colleges aren't everyone's cup of tea.  And, I went to one of those big state schools like Penn State and I did fine.  But, I don't think I got as good an education or was put in as good a "position" upon graduation as my son at this small liberal arts college.  He plans to go to law school after he graduates, and I can see (as a lawyer myself) that they are preparing him very well for that next adventure.

The financial end of things, of course, can change the calculus for people.  My son was fortunate enough to receive generous scholarships from this school that made it affordable enough for us to let him go there.  We also saved from the moment he was born to be able to say yes if he wanted to go to a school like this.  I don't regret for a minute what we have spent on his education.

It works both ways. If you're heading to a massive school (20k+) then you're going to have to put in the legwork and make sure you're not another face in the 250 person lecture. Sure there are going to be smaller classes at a school with only 1500 kids, but there are still discussion sections at the large publics. English, labs, history classes will all have sections of around 20.

Either way I get what you're saying. My point was more or less you have to really want  to go there. It can't just be a yeah it's a good school I'll go. That has to be the atmosphere you want. Still a very good school and can open doors. The point was that in relation to the price tag there could be better options if you were not all in on wanting the small school feel. If small school is what is desired then it's a no brainer to take a closer look at. 

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